Blood slipped from the wound in her forehead, running along her temple and gathering beneath her head in dark streaks that continued spreading across the concrete no matter how hard I stared at them.
My body folded forward as a sob ripped out of me.
“I’m sorry,” I whimpered. “Theymade me do it.”
The relentless buzzing in my head began to fade.
In its place came a soft, almost sultry chuckle that slithered through my thoughts like a serpent.
Good girl, Haelyn. I’m proud of you.
The voice practically purred with satisfaction.
Another one joined in, lighter and almost playful.
See? That wasn’t so hard. You always make things bigger than they need to be.
Then came a colder one, sharp and impatient.
Stop crying. She would’ve ruined everything. You fixed the problem.
A fourth voice followed, warm and soothing, almost motherly.
Shh. Don’t look at her. Look at your stomach. Think about the baby. Everything you did was for the baby.
I pressed both hands over my ears trying to tune the voices out, but they only grew louder.
She was going to take her life back!
She never cared about you!
She forced your hand!
“Leave me alone! Leave me alone! Leave me alone!” I yelled, my voice breaking as I rocketed back and forth, my hands pressed tightly against my ears as if I could block out the weight of my thoughts. “I didn’t want to kill her, and y’all know that!”
Haelyn, calm down,a voice responded, lapping at my anxiety like a soothing balm.
You did what you had to do.
“I know,” I said, the words spilling out in a soft, trembling confession. “But she was my… she was my sister.” The final word cracked painfully on my lips, the bitter taste of loss threatening to overwhelm me.
See, this is why we don’t get emotionally involved,another voice replied matter-of-factly.
Feelings make people hesitate, and hesitation gets people caught.
She would’ve ruined it. You had no choice.
“Right. I had no choice,” I murmured, nodding to the empty air as if someone could see my silent agreement.
I wiped my face with the back of my hand. The tears disappeared, and somehow, so did the guilt.
“Well...” I exhaled shakily before forcing a bright smile onto my face. “No use in sitting around being sad. I still have work to do.”
The switch in my tone was instant. Grief was gone and replaced with renewed energy.
“Guess it’s time to redecorate.” I clapped my hands together once. “Jace hates mess, and that girlreallyleft this place a mess.”
I pulled a heavy black bag from the corner and looked around the basement, almost casually, like I was deciding where a piece of furniture belonged.
